Four BBC staff members in India are to leave the organisation to form a new entity that will run services behalf of the BBC.
Collective Newsroom Private Limited is a response to India’s controversial foreign direct investment (FDI) in media rules.
The Indian government has placed a cap on FDI in digital news organisations of 26%. BBC World Service India is 99% owned by the BBC, meaning that to keep within the rules, at least 74% has to be owned by Indian citizens.
Rupa Jha, Mukesh Sharma, Sanjoy Majumder and Sara Hassan will lead Collective Newsroom, which the BBC has now commissioned to produce its six Indian language services as well as Indian digital output and Indian YouTube channel in English for audiences globally.
Rupa Jha, Senior News Editor, BBC India, and founding shareholder of Collective Newsroom, said: “Audiences in India can be assured that the BBC’s Indian language services and unique range of quality output will inform, educate and entertain audiences across our diverse and highly engaged country under the agreement between the BBC and Collective Newsroom. We launch Collective Newsroom with big ambitions for audiences in India and beyond.”
The BBC has a long-held and deep-rooted place in India’s media landscape, having first launched the Hindi language service in 1940. Since then it has developed a range of BBC output, expanding the number of Indian language services and growing audience figures from decade-to-decade.
However, a documentary on Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and his role in anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 when he was chief minister of the state, brought the BBC into conflict with the Government.
Jonathan Munro, Deputy CEO, BBC News commented: “The BBC’s presence in India is steeped in a rich history that has always put audiences first, so we warmly welcome the formation of Collective Newsroom which continues that progression. The BBC will get first class content from Collective Newsroom that will be rooted in India and in line with the editorial standards audiences expect from the BBC. We look forward to working with them.”
Activity for BBC Monitoring and the BBC’s English language newsgathering operation for global output will remain with the BBC.
